The scheme seeks long-term capital growth and will invest approximately 80 per cent of its assets in equity, while the balance would be a invested in debt and money market instrument. It was converted to an open-ended scheme with effect from July 1999. A combination of top down & bottom up approach will be followed in the stock selection process.

Popularity and performance have gone hand in hand for Birla Sun Life Tax Relief 96, one of the veterans of the tax planning category. With the fund delivering a 12 per cent CAGR in the last ten years, 3 percentage points higher than its category, its asset size has vaulted fromR20 crore to nudgeR2000 crore (R1928 crore as of end January 2016).

Earlier known as Alliance Tax Relief 96, this fund had a great run in the initial years. However, it turned out to be a moderate performer for a long intervening period - sporting a 3 star for many years, before showing promise again in the last two years. The fund has climbed from a 3-star to a 4-star rating in the last 12 months.

The fund follows a multi-cap strategy with a 55-60 per cent largecap exposure and the rest in small and midcaps. It has tilted more towards the mid-cap pack than other ELSS peers and avoids cash calls. The strategy is bottom up and uses a 360 degree view of a company, in order to invest in compelling businesses without any size bias.

The fund's year by year record since 1998 shows a few bad patches, when it struggled to outdo both benchmarks and peers. The fund has lost more value than its benchmark in the recent bear markets with its returns slipping behind the benchmark both in 2008 and 2011. These were also years in which it underperformed the category. But it has also demonstrated the ability to play bounce backs from bear markets to the hilt, by outdoing both the index and peers by big margins.

The fund has delivered sharply higher returns than the category in the big bull years of 1999, 2003, 2007, 2009 as well as the recent spell in 2014 and 2015. It needs to mention that the fund suffered a lot of fund manager shuffle in its initial years until 2006. After the ownership transfer to Birla Sun Life, the management team has remained very stable with Ajay Garg at the helm from 2006. The fund is currently placing its bets on domestic consumption themes- both rural and urban and is playing an upturn in the economy.

Overall, a fund which has been vulnerable to setbacks in market falls, but picks up strongly where it left off in bull markets.

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Invest Rs 1,50,000 and Save Tax under Section 80C. Get Great Returns by Investing in Best Performing ELSS Mutual Funds

The scheme aims to generate long-term capital appreciation from a portfolio that is invested predominantly in equity and equity related instruments.

After a difficult patch in its initial years between 2006 and 2008, this fund has come into its own in the last five years. With a particularly good run since 2014, it has climbed to a four-five-star rating in this period. Though most funds in the ELSS category follow a multi-cap approach, Reliance Tax Saver has an even higher allocation to mid- and small-cap stocks than the category. The mandate allows a 40-60 per cent allocation to large caps. But in practice, in the last two years, the large-cap exposure has hovered between 25 and 40 per cent. The fund also sets aside 20-30 per cent of the portfolio for multinational companies with robust fundamentals. The fund follows a blend of growth and value investing.

The fund's three-, five- and even seven-year returns are ahead of the benchmark by 8-12 per cent. This is helped a great deal by the fund's runaway returns in 2014 when it made more than twice the benchmark returns. The focus on quality plays and MNCs helped it capture outperformance by this segment. The higher allocation to small and mid caps relative to the category also helped returns. In 2015, the portfolio focused on domestic recovery plays like capital goods, autos, finance, while avoiding FMCGs and non-durables. Overall, the fund has fared better in tearaway bull markets than in bearish markets.

This is an aggressive fund to own in the ELSS space. Risks could be higher due to the mid- and small-cap tilt than those in the category.

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Invest Rs 1,50,000 and Save Tax under Section 80C. Get Great Returns by Investing in Best Performing ELSS Mutual Funds